The Blue Desert Conundrum

Where we encounter marine megafauna, we see only a tiny slice of their habitats and lives, which rarely includes feeding. These animals may travel thousands of feet vertically or migrate a few thousand miles horizontally to meet their nutritional needs. Some of them — sperm whales, for example — must do both: descend to depths of up to a mile or more to feast on aggregations of squid and roam across large swaths of the Pacific to avoid depleting their food resources in any one area.

juvenile short finned pilot whale between two adults

Beneath the Fin

Sharks are among the ocean’s oldest survivors. They have cruised through Earth’s seas for more than 450 million years — long before the first trees grew or Saturn formed its rings.

Silky sharks in Cuba’s Jardines de la Reina.